The unhygienic conditions mean that people are at risk of diseases such as cholera. Malaria is rife, and many suffer from respiratory tract infections and diarrhoea.

In 2015, according to figures from the UNHCR, the UN refugee agency, there were almost 200,000 refugees in Tanzania, the majority from the DRC and Burundi. Many have been in the country since the 1990s, but the number from Burundi increased significantly as a result of political unrest in the country in May. Following reports of a cholera outbreak among the new arrivals, MSF set up a cholera treatment centre (CTC) in a football stadium that was serving as a transit site for refugees in Kigoma, and another at a transit site in Kagunga, about four hours by boat from Kigoma. MSF worked in Kagunga transit camp for just over a month until the end of June. Around 37 people were admitted to the 20-bed centre during the five weeks. Staff also carried out health promotion activities and provided water and sanitation in the camp.

Nyarugusu refugee camp

MSF began work in Nyarugusu camp in May 2015, and set up a CTC. In June, following the unrest in Burundi, there was a new influx of refugees and at one point there were up to 1,000 new arrivals every day. The camp was quickly overwhelmed, and humanitarian organisations struggled to provide enough water, food, shelter and medical services. Teams started running mobile clinics and outpatient nutrition programmes, and supported the intensive therapeutic feeding centre in the Tanzanian Red Cross hospital. In the absence of other organisations with emergency response capacity, teams also distributed around 90 million litres of water.